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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/30101118">numerous bees</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/buoyantsaturn/pseuds/buoyantsaturn'>buoyantsaturn</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>M/M, No Dialogue, Non-binary Nico di Angelo, Pre-Relationship</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-03-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 23:01:50</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,359</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/30101118</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/buoyantsaturn/pseuds/buoyantsaturn</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Nico leaves the infirmary after their three-day stay and takes what is probably the longest shower of their life.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Nico di Angelo/Will Solace</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>92</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>numerous bees</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>hello! uhhh this was mostly writing practice and also ive officially jumped on the nb nico train so that happened here as well so uhhh hope you enjoy!! also did not proofread this and wrote it at like midnight so good luck lmao</p>
<p>thank u pidgeinthefridge for the title i was trying to avoid nb puns but that one was too good to refuse</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>After their three day stay in the infirmary, which consisted of a lot of laying around and eating enough ambrosia that they worried they might burst into flames at any second even though Will kept assuring them that they were </span>
  <em>
    <span>fine, </span>
  </em>
  <span>Nico was finally allowed to return to their cabin. They were happy for the chance to roam free, but being out and about in the sun only made them think about Will.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He had said he wanted them to be </span>
  <em>
    <span>friends.</span>
  </em>
  <span> And Nico had believed him in the moment, but for the last three days, Will had only seemed to care about Nico for medical reasons. He would go off into other parts of the infirmary and joke around with his real friends while Nico laid on a cot in the corner, and Will only came back to change their bandages or check their temperature. If Will had wanted to be friends so badly, then why had he stopped trying?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maybe Nico just needed to remind him of his promise, but first, they were desperate for a shower. They hadn’t properly bathed in...they didn’t even want to think how long, but after fighting through Tartarus and being coated in mud more than once, they were ready for a nice, long shower. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Standing under the warm spray was probably the most relaxed Nico had felt in years, though the longer they stood there, watching as the top layer of grime rinsed off and swirled down the drain, the more exhausted they got. They ended up sitting down on the shower bench to lather up, standing only when they needed to get under the spray to rinse off again. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They scrubbed uselessly at the many scars and scratches that littered their body, wishing to wash away all of their past mistakes to no avail. All it did was remind them of the traumas they had endured, bringing up bad memories that they knew they wouldn’t be able to scrub out of their head, either. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When was the last time they’d washed their hair, or even taken it down from the bun they always kept it in? Nico pulled the tie away and shook their hair loose, though it was so tangled and matted that it barely moved. Nico sat on the bench with the steam building up around them as they slowly untangled their hair, one tiny section at a time. They ripped and pull, shaking broken hair out from between their fingers until they could finally brush through it without catching, and then they finally stepped back under the water. They lathered and rinsed and repeated two or three times before they were finally satisfied with the feeling. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Their hair was dried out. Just about all of the ends had broken off or died, but it was the longest it had ever been, so they couldn’t bring themself to even consider cutting it. Instead, they poured about half a bottle of conditioner into their hand and lathered it into their hair. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Focusing all of their attention on their hair for so long and wiping their mind of anything else had been the perfect thing to get Nico’s mind off of their own shortcomings, and after standing under the showerhead for another few minutes to make sure the water ran clear, they finally stepped out. Even after being away from the cabin for the last year, the place was perfectly stocked with the biggest, fluffiest towels. Nico took two off the shelf, wrapping one around their waist and another around their shoulders, letting their hair drip into the towel and air dry. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They hadn’t felt this clean since they were pulled out of the Lotus all those years ago, and when they sat down on the edge of their bed to start getting dressed, they realized that they hadn’t felt this content in a long time, either. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Nico pulled on a camp t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants, then added an oversized black sweatshirt when they noticed how scrawny they looked without it. They were a long ways from being healthy, but Nico was prepared to put in the work to make it happen. And after exhausting themself with the effort it took to finally get themself clean, Nico decided that they needed a nap.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Will had planned on making the infirmary schedule in a way that would allow him to end his shift just as Nico was being released from their three day stay, but the infirmary kept getting overrun with campers who had aggravated a broken bone or popped their stitches, and Will was trapped. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It wasn’t until the dinner horn sounded that his siblings finally allowed him to take a break - though in their eyes, it was more like they were forcing him to leave already - and Will felt like he was close to collapse. His feet dragged as he walked and he was pretty sure he reeked of sweat. He </span>
  <em>
    <span>felt</span>
  </em>
  <span> grimy, and he would’ve headed straight for the showers if didn’t think he would just fall asleep standing up. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>No, he had barely eaten all day, so priority number one was sitting down to dinner with his siblings who were too young to work in the infirmary. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Will trudged into the pavilion, his eyes locked on the buffet table where he loaded up a plate with plenty of extra food to sacrifice to the gods. When he turned to head toward the Apollo table, his eyes caught on something - on some</span>
  <em>
    <span>one</span>
  </em>
  <span> - and he almost tripped.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He saw Nico sitting at the Poseidon table with Jason and Percy, slowly picking at a thin sandwich that easily could’ve been nothing more than a peanut butter and jelly. Will could hardly believe his eyes, not at the fact that Nico had stayed or that they had come out of their cabin, but that they were wearing </span>
  <em>
    <span>sweatpants.</span>
  </em>
  <span> Their hair hung loose for the first time in Will’s memory, big and curly and a bit frizzy and hanging down past their shoulders. It looked so soft, almost like a cloud, and Will just wanted to bury his face in it. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Everything</span>
  </em>
  <span> about Nico in that moment looked soft, from the sweatshirt they were wearing to the easy smile on their lips that had Will’s breath catching in his throat.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Then Nico lifted their gaze, their eyes locking with Will’s across the pavilion, and Will’s heart stopped. Oh gods, Nico had caught him staring. They probably thought Will was a creep, or maybe that Will was afraid of them like some of the other campers. What if they went back on their promise and left camp before Will had the chance to befriend them?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Nico raised a hand, offering Will a tiny, awkward wave, but they kept smiling. Somehow, they looked even paler than before, probably because any color that had been on their skin had been nothing more than the mud Coach Hedge had coated them with. Though, Will noticed, the bags under their eyes had shrunk, making their eyes look less sunken and therefore taking away from their usual creepy look.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>No, they didn’t look creepy at all. Will didn’t see how anyone could have ever thought Nico looked creepy. How could someone so pretty ever come off as creepy?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Oh </span>
  <em>
    <span>gods,</span>
  </em>
  <span> how long had Will been staring? In a rush, he went to wave back at Nico, but the motion nearly made him drop his plate, and he scrambled to catch it before all of his food fell to the ground. Will dropped his gaze to the floor in front of his feet, feeling his face starting to burn with an embarrassed flush as he marched himself straight to the Apollo table, refusing to look back to see if Nico had reacted at all.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When he sat down, he realized his pulse was racing. He couldn’t get his mind off of Nico - he hadn’t been able to for days now - but something about this was different. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Gods,</span>
  </em>
  <span> Will had promised Nico that he wanted to be their friend, but how could Will try to be friends with someone he had such a massive crush on?</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>thanks for reading!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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